New rules coming

The old adage of new year, new rules will apply for volleyballers in 2015.

The governing body for the sport, FIVB, at their 34th World Congress in Sardinia, Italy, yesterday approved major changes in the rules which will once again alter the fast-paced game invented in 1896.  

Most of the changes, as in past amendments, have been driven by the influence of television, with US$28 million in TV rights on offer for the next World Championships.

The net touch which was changed where it was only considered a foul if the top of the net was contacted during play will be reverting to all net contacts within the zone of the antennae being whistled as a foul. The original change was made to accommodate the viewers who never saw or considered it important that a player had executed an impressive kill or a crushing block and that player had brushed the net during play.

However, the Games Commission has determined that the males, in particular, were abusing the system to swing or hold on to the net to avoid tumbling into the opponent’s court and committing a foul.

A strong argument led by Olympic coach Doug Beal from the United States to not revert to the old rule was defeated in a vote-off. Beal was a candidate to current FIVB president Dr Ary Graca when elections were held in Anaheim, California in 2012.

Hawkeye, the electronic system used in cricket and tennis, will be implemented with coaches having the right of two appeals per set and they will retain the two appeals once they are used successfully.  

However, with television lamenting the length of volleyball matches, a proposal was made to grant coaches one regular timeout, only along with the two technical timeouts, at eight and 16.  

The US made a successful proposal that for FIVB and World tournaments, the option will be available to allow only one regular timeout but the two timeouts would remain in place under normal circumstances.

The composition of the team has also been changed where 14 players can be rostered but two of the players must be liberos. A list of 13 players demands that there be 11 regular players and two liberos. Five officials will now be allowed on the bench during matches with the coaches determining the identity of the five.

Barbados and other nations which do not compete at the FIVB world tournaments with live television have been granted the option to ignore the rule changes like the reduction in timeouts and appeals, particularly for their domestic competitions.  But, the net foul is to be applied throughout all member nations.

One significant change made at the congress was the limiting of the terms of the president, consonant with what the IOC has instituted. The president will be limited to two terms with the first term being for eight years and any successful second term being for four years. Dr Reuben Acosta was FIVB’s longest serving president after being elected in Los Angeles in 1984, before resigning in Dubai in 2008.